Yosua 5:2-8

A New Generation is Circumcised

5:2 At that time the Lord told Joshua, “Make flint knives and circumcise the Israelites once again.” ¹  5:3 So Joshua made flint knives and circumcised the Israelites on the Hill of the Foreskins. ²  5:4 This is why Joshua had to circumcise them: All the men old enough to fight when they left Egypt died on the journey through the desert after they left Egypt. ³  5:5 Now ⁴  all the men ⁵  who left were circumcised, but all the sons ⁶  born on the journey through the desert after they left Egypt were uncircumcised. 5:6 Indeed, for forty years the Israelites traveled through the desert until all the men old enough to fight when they left Egypt, the ones who had disobeyed the Lord, died off. ⁷  For the Lord had sworn a solemn oath to them that he would not let them see the land he had sworn on oath to give them, ⁸  a land rich in ⁹  milk and honey. 5:7 He replaced them with their sons, ¹⁰  whom Joshua circumcised. They were uncircumcised; their fathers had not circumcised them along the way. 5:8 When all the men ¹¹  had been circumcised, they stayed there in the camp until they had healed.

[5:2]  ¹ tn Heb “return, circumcise the sons of Israel a second time.” The Hebrew term שׁוּב (shuv, “return”) is used here in an adverbial sense to indicate the repetition of an action.

[5:3]  ² tn Or “Gibeath Haaraloth.” This name means “Hill of the Foreskins.” Many modern translations simply give the Hebrew name, although an explanatory note giving the meaning of the name is often included.

[5:3]  sn The name given to the place, Hill of the Foreskins was an obvious reminder of this important event.

[5:4]  ³ tn Heb “All the people who went out from Egypt, the males, all the men of war, died in the desert in the way when they went out from Egypt.”

[5:5]  ⁴ tn Or “indeed.”

[5:5]  ⁵ tn Heb “people.”

[5:5]  ⁶ tn Heb “all the people.”

[5:6]  ⁷ tn Heb “all the nation, the men of war who went out from Egypt, who did not listen to the voice of the Lord, came to an end.”

[5:6]  ⁸ tn Some Hebrew mss, as well as the Syriac version, support this reading. Most ancient witnesses read “us.”

[5:6]  ⁹ tn Heb “flowing with.”

[5:6]  sn The word picture a land rich in milk and honey depicts the land as containing many grazing areas (which would produce milk) and flowering plants (which would support the bees that produced honey).

[5:7]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “their sons he raised up in their place.”

[5:8]  ¹¹ tn Heb “nation.”